Posted by Dani (@dani_sunario), Melbourne.

Today begins the 7-day countdown to Christmas, and though you probably already have your Christmas brunch/lunch/dinner meal plans ready, and have braved the 150m lines at the supermarket to put down your deposit for the last remaining 34kg ham in the store, A Tale of Two Bougies is bringing you a set of quick and easy recipes with festive flavours. Who knows? You could still completely abandon that pig, and let someone else battle with it for hours on Christmas day. Think about it, that means you have even more time to get creepy with mistletoe at your family get-together.

LET’S GET FESTIVE UP IN HERE.

Pfeffernüsse* is probably my favourite thing about December. Forget about Santa and all the well-behaved children, ginger-spiced biscuits are the only winners this time of year.

I remember the IGA supermarket next to my university always had a tonne of pfeffernüsse around this time of year, so every meeting I went to as a student where we were each asked to bring something to share heavily featured pfeffernüsse. Most of us overdosed, and I swore to never eat them again.

UNTIL NOW…

I had almost forgotten about pfeffernüsse entirely, until I saw these little babies the other day while grocery shopping with a friend. We got a little excited, homesick, people-sick (I MISS YOU SO MUCH, SOPHIE) and reminisced about our time at uni, before she challenged me to create something delicious for the blog using pfeffernüsse.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

At first, I really wanted to make a pfeffernüsse mousse, purely for the way it sounds when you say it. Go on. Say it out loud. And again. And again. Now do it really fast. Over and over.

See, I told you it was great.

Now you have your festive entertainment covered.

Thinking of flavours that would work well with the spiced biscuits, I immediately thought of pears. Ginger and pear are a match made in heaven, and even better, poached pears are one of my favourite food groups of all time. French Earl Grey poached pears with a side of marscapone? I don’t even need a spoon, let’s just get primitive up in here and use our hands.

Building on the pears-poached-in-tea idea, I decided to poach them in lemon and ginger tea with a touch of honey. Dipped in dark chocolate. And a crunchy pfeffernusse crumb. All served with a side of ricotta cream. With this combination, NOTHING CAN POSSIBLY GO WRONG.

(Though at this point, you’ve probably peaked in life and there can’t be anything that will possibly top it. You might as well die happy now.)

Chocolate Pfeffernüsse dipped Tea Poached Pears with Honeyed Ricotta Cream
Serves 2

2 firm pears (I used Bartlett pears), peeled
4 lemon and ginger tea bags
1 stick cinnamon
1 peel of lemon rind
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 large piece of ginger, peeled and bruised
50g dark chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
5 pfeffernüsse biscuits, crumbled
2 tablespoon honey
100g ricotta
small knob of ginger, grated finely

Toast the pfeffernüsse crumbs in a pan until crisp, and set aside to cool.

For the poaching liquid, fill a small saucepan with enough water to cover the pears. Add pears, tea bags, cinnamon, ginger, lemon rind, 1 tablespoon of honey, and 1/2 of the lemon juice and simmer on a medium heat until pears are cooked through. You can test this using a skewer, but it usually takes somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine finely grated ginger, ricotta, and remaining honey in a bowl, and stir until combined. Don’t be too frivolous and over-stir the guy here. Calm down, we’re not getting THAT festive.

Let the pears cool, out of the poaching liquid, before dipping in the melted dark chocolate and the pfeffernüsse crumb. Serve with a side of ricotta cream and an extra drizzle of honey.

* I realise that by the end of this post, I will have mentioned the word ‘pfeffernüsse’ at least 23 times more than necessary. I just really love saying it, so deal already.

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